Abounding of Love in Knowledge and Experience 2
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Does not, then, a spiritual taste feed love both to the banquet, and to the Lord of the banquet? Be assured that the reason why the word of God is often so tasteless, is because we have either no appetite or a depraved one.
4. But again, there is a spiritual HANDLING analogous to the natural sense of touch. This, we know, is eminently the sense of feeling, as distinguished from the other senses. How do we naturally know whether objects are hot or cold? By the sense of touch. So it is in grace—there is a handling of the Word of life, as John speaks in that remarkable passage, where he mentions in the compass of one verse, three of the spiritual senses which I am seeking to explain. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we haveseen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life." So the Lord said to his disciples, "Handle me and see" (Luke 24:39); and still invites us by the prophet, "let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me." (Isa. 27:5.)
Did not the woman with the issue of blood touch the hem of Jesus' garment, and was she not at once made whole? So "the whole multitude sought to touch him, for there went virtue out of him and healed them all." (Luke 8:47; 6:19.) Does not embracing feed love? How the fond mother embraces her babe! After a long absence how lovers embrace each other; and how every embrace renews affection! How the women at the sepulcher "held Jesus by the feet," as if they could not, would not let him go! And so says the Bride—"I held him and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother's house." (Song 3:4.) Truly here is feeling, and love abounding in feeling in every sense of the word.
5. Again, there is the spiritual SMELL, for as all the senses have their analogy in grace, there is the spiritual smell to correspond with the natural organ. Do we not read—"Because of the savor of your good ointments, your name is an ointment poured forth; therefore do the virgins love you." (Song 1:3.) But how could the virgins smell the savor of his good ointments, unless they had a spiritual nose? Isaac knew something of this spiritual sense when he said "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed." (Gen. 27:27.) Is it not said also of our gracious Lord? "All your garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia" (Psalm. 45:8); and when he gave himself for us it was "an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." (Eph. 5:2.) But how can we smell the sweet-smelling myrrh that drops from his lips if we have no spiritual smell? (Song 5:13.)
Thus we see how all these spiritual senses—sight, hearing, tasting, feeling, and smelling feed love; and therefore the apostle prays that it may abound yet more and more, not in knowledge only, but in all those spiritual senses which are exercised to discern both good and evil. If I see the Lord, I shall love him; if I hear the Lord, I shall love him; if I taste the Lord, I shall love him; if I feel the Lord, I shall love him; if I smell the good ointments of the Lord, I shall love him; and that in proportion to the keenness of my sight, my hearing, my taste, my touch, and my smell.
This, then, is the peculiar blessedness of living experience, that it goes hand in hand with gracious knowledge to sustain heavenly love; and that Christ is the end and Object of both; the end and Object of all saving knowledge, and the end and Object of all true experience; for in this as in everything else, he is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
II. But I pass on to consider the next petition of the apostle for his Philippian brethren, which indeed is closely connected with that already handled—"That you may approve things that are excellent," or, as the margin reads, "try thing that differ."
A. I shall adopt both readings, and take the latter first. "That you may try things that differ."
A Christian in walking through this world has many things upon which he is continually called to exercise his spiritual judgment. He is not to be led blindfold by others, even by his best friends or most trustworthy counselors; nor must he trust to himself for wisdom and direction; still less must he be altogether heedless of the steps that he takes. Sin and Satan are continually laying snares for his feet; and therefore he is to walk circumspectly and cautiously lest he be entangled in them. He will find too that the more he desires to walk in the fear of the Lord, the more will a great variety of cases ever come before his mind, of which, unless he tests them, he cannot ascertain the real worth or value. Now these ever-varying circumstances are spoken of in the margin "as things that differ."
1. Sometimes we have to try our own EXPERIENCE. We know that there is a false experience; a natural faith, a delusive hope, and a pretended love; for we see an abundance of these deceptions everywhere around us. We have, then, to try our own faith, hope, and love to see if they be genuine. Does my experience bear marks of a divine character? Is my faith the gift of God? Is my hope a good hope through grace? Is my love the fruit of the Spirit, or sparks of my own kindling? Do I love in word or in tongue, or in deed and in truth? What has the Lord communicated to my soul? Does my religion bear marks and evidences of being the fruit of his own grace? This is trying things that differ, for we know what a wide difference there is between a true experience and a false one.
2. Again, my MOTIVES at different times greatly differ—they are then to be tried. Some motives are good, others bad; some natural, others spiritual—some will bear the light, others will not. I must try my motives, then, for the value of actions depends almost wholly on their secret springs.
3. My WORDS, too. As a preacher, I must try my words, whether they are like Naphtali's, "goodly words" (Gen. 49:21); whether they are consistent with the truth revealed in the word—whether they are agreeable to the experience of God's saints. So our words in private; we have to try them over. Were they spoken in the fear of the Lord? Were they light and trifling, or words of gravity, sobriety, and consistency?
4. So our THOUGHTS—we have to try them, whether they are evil or good, carnal or spiritual, gracious or ungodly.
5. So our SPIRIT—for we must try our own spirit as well as that of others. Is it the spirit of a Christian, or the spirit of the world? Is it a meek spirit or a proud spirit? a godly spirit or an ungodly spirit? a forgiving spirit or an unforgiving spirit? an appropriate spirit or an inappropriate spirit? We have to try our spirits in this way, or we shall make sad mistakes, perhaps disgrace our Christian profession, or wound our own conscience and the conscience of others. I cannot do with a reckless Antinomian spirit, or that spirit of levity and frivolity, hardness and audacity, which in our day passes off both in pulpit and pew for strong assurance, but which I call strong delusion or daring presumption.
6. In a similar manner we have to try our WAYS generally, whether they are consistent with the gospel; whether our life, conduct, and conversation befit our profession, and whether we are living to the glory of God. It is awful work to be so blinded and hardened by the devil, as never to weigh up matters how they stand in the sight of God, the great Searcher of hearts. But what is our standard, for we must have one to judge righteous judgment? We have two—the one is the infallible word of God which tries all things, and must be the grand court of appeal; the other is our own experience; the dealings of God with our soul, the teachings of God in our own bosom. And by these two things—the word of God externally, and the life of God internally, we have to "try things that differ." Now if our words and works, spirit and conduct, will not bear these two tests, they are unsound; and how then will they stand the heart-searching eye of him with whom we have to do?
But now see the CONNECTION between this and the first petition. As our love abounds in knowledge and all sense, we are put into a position to try things that differ; for love is very keen sighted. What sharp eyes it has! How it reads people's faces; how it interprets looks; what significations it puts upon little actions; and how quick-sighted to gather information from a glance of the eye or a curl of the lip. And love has something very tender and feeling about it. There must be feeling where there is love, for as it is a passion that takes such entire possession of the bosom, and is so very sensitive, it is anxious to try what makes for or against it. So it is in divine love. It will take and weigh matters as God would have them weighed by trying things that differ; for love's keen eyes will soon see what God approves of, and what he disapproves.
B. Now as this spiritual judgment is exercised, there will follow upon the decision which love gives—an "approving of things that are excellent."
This necessarily follows upon trying things that differ, and coming to a right decision upon them; for both an enlightened judgment and a loving heart concur in this approval. When, then, we have tried contending circumstances in these two balances, then we cannot only stamp upon that which is good the mark of excellence, but can seal it as such with our loving approval. There is a seeing the light and hating it, as Milton represents Satan telling the Sun how he hated his beams; and there are those of whom we read that "they rebel against the light." (Job 24:13.) But love approves of all that shines in the light of God's testimony. Whatever God has revealed in the word, whatever he has planted by his own hand in the soul, bears the stamp of its great Author. As, then, we are favored with spiritual knowledge, and blessed with spiritual sense, we approve things that are excellent because they are of God.
There is no mark of depravity greater than putting good for evil and evil for good, bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. It is the last consequence of human wickedness, first to confound good and evil, and then deliberately prefer the evil. This was the climax of the sins of the Gentile world, that "knowing the judgment of God, that they who commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." As distinct, then, from these awful characters, the saint of God will approve things that are excellent. Let us see some of these excellent things of which he deliberately approves.
1. The love of God in the gift of his dear Son, is the most excellent of all his adorable attributes in the estimation of love. "How excellent is your loving kindness, O God," said one of old. (Psalm 36:7.)
2. Nor less excellent is the grace of love in the heart which flows from the manifestation of the loving kindness of God. The apostle, therefore, says to the Corinthians—"And yet I show unto you a more excellent way"—the way of "charity," or love. (1 Cor. 12:31.)
3. Grace in its sovereignty, fullness, blessedness, and super-aboundings over the aboundings of sin, is so excellent in itself as glorious to God, and so excellent to us as suitable to man, and adapted to every want and woe of the sinner, that it is worthy of our warmest approval. But when shall I really approve of the excellency of gospel grace? When I know it, and when I feel it; for then my love will abound in knowledge and in all sense. Then I really understand its blessedness; then I not only feel its sweetness, but I try the things that differ, salvation by grace and salvation by works. I see the excellency of the former; I see the delusion of the latter, and I approve of that which is excellent.
4. By the same "knowledge" and the same "sense," I look at the saints of God, and I find them to be what the Lord has himself pronounced them, "the excellent of the earth." (Psalm. 16:2, 3.) But how few there are who really approve of the saints of God, as the excellent of the earth, or believe them to be what the Lord calls them, "the salt of the earth" (Matt. 5:3), to preserve it from putrefaction, and "the pillars of the earth," upon which the Lord "has set the world," that it might not fall into ruin. (1 Sam. 2:8.) Instead of approving of and delighting in them, how most despise, hate, and persecute them. And why? Because their eyes are not illuminated by a ray of divine light to see their excellency, nor their hearts touched by divine grace to love it.
For what is the excellency of the Christian? Not in the creature—there is no excellency there. But this is their excellency, that they have the mind and image of Christ. This is their excellency, that Jesus is seen in them. We have seen the excellency of Jesus; we have admired his beauty, fallen in love with his grace, and been delighted with his glory. Now when we see the image of Jesus reflected in the hearts of his people, we must approve of it as well as love it, because it resembles him. When you see a real Christian, one who is meek and humble, tender, broken, and contrite, with a heart full of faith, hope, and love, walking in the fear of God; desirous to know his will and do it; submissive under affliction; spiritually minded, and adorning the doctrine by a godly life—don't you approve of that man as one of the excellent of the earth?
And when you see a man in 'a mere profession of religion'—proud and obstinate, worldly and covetous, boasting and presumptuous, full of self-exaltation and self-conceit, light and trifling, carnal and earthly minded, in adversity unsubmissive to the will of God, in prosperity determined to have his own will and way, don't you disapprove of that man and what you see in him, as being contrary to the mind of Christ and the image of the suffering Son of God? It must be so, if you have a right understanding of the things of God.
If divine light has enlightened your mind, divine life quickened your heart, and you love the Lord and his people, you must approve of the things that are excellent. For they are so commended to your conscience that you can no more do otherwise than you can tell a deliberate lie, or call black white. And as you approve of them, you will disapprove of everything which is contrary to, or falls short of this excellency. Now this is what distinguishes us from the world and the spirit of it and from all whose eyes are blinded by the god of this world—that while they approve of the things God abhors, we approve of the things that God loves. Here is the mind of Christ; here is the teaching of the Spirit giving us in some measure to see as Christ sees, to feel as Christ feels, to love as Christ loves, and to approve as Christ approves. We shall never go far wrong so long as we are approving the things that are excellent, and seeking, as the Lord may enable, to know the will of God and do it. But directly that we lose sight of this spiritual standard and set up the opinion of men, then our eyes get blinded, our hearts hardened, our consciences benumbed, and instead of approving the things that are excellent, we may gradually and insensibly drift into the very spirit of ungodliness.
III. But now comes our next and third petition, "that you may be sincere and without offence until the day of Christ."
A. SINCERITY is the very life-breath of a Christian. If he is not sincere, he is nothing. I was speaking just now of a monster in Christianity, and I said that a Christian without love was a monster indeed. But I may go farther, and say that a Christian without sincerity could not exist.
But what kind of sincerity does our text mean? A man may be sincere, that is naturally sincere, and yet be altogether out of the secret of divine teaching. Was not Paul sincere when he went to Damascus, breathing threatenings and slaughter against the saints of God? But he was sincerely wrong. The only sincerity worth the name is what the apostle calls "godlysincerity" (2 Cor. 1:12), that is, a sincerity wrought in the heart by the power of God. The original word in our text is very striking—it signifies a sincerity which may be judged or examined by the light of the sun, as distinguished from that insincerity and deceitfulness which, like the bat and the owl, creep into the dark corners. Christian sincerity will bear the light of the sun, and in fact it is a ray out of the Sun of righteousness which creates it. A man cannot be really and truly sincere in the sight of God who has not divine life in his bosom. It is the light of life in his soul that makes him sincere in a spiritual sense before God.
But now see the connection of this petition with the preceding. So far as we are sincere, we shall try things that differ and approve things that are excellent. We shall be able to bring our religion out to the test, as we hold up a piece of cloth to the light that the sun may shine upon it and show us if there are any moth-holes, any thin, worn-out places, any fraudulent material. This is not like keeping damaged goods in the back shop; or drawing customers into some dark corner of the counter to pass 'Yorkshire shoddy' off for 'West of England broadcloth'. We should be able to bring our religion out of our heart in all its length and breadth, and hold it up to the beams of the sun to see ourselves and let others see too whether the material of which it is made be sound or rotten.
It may have a very good surface, be nicely smoothed over, and yet the material be as rotten as Jeremiah's "worn-out clothes," or the worn-out clothes of the Gibeonites. (Jer. 38:2; Josh.9:5.) O, to be truly sincere and have the heart made honest in the fear of God, that we may appeal to him, "You see me O God," and with the Psalmist, "O Lord, you have searched me and known me." (Gen. 16:13; Psalm. 139:1.) This religion will stand the light, as our gracious Lord said—"For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he who does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God." (John 3:20, 21.)
B. But the apostle adds, "and WITHOUT OFFENCE until the day of Christ." The word means literally to cause any to stumble over our crooked ways, words, or works, and thus conceive a prejudice against the religion we profess. It is a sad thing to put a stumbling-block in the way of any person, especially an inquirer after truth, or open the mouth of an enemy. There was an express prohibition in the Levitical law against putting a stumbling-block in the way of the blind. (Lev. 19:14.) And O what a solemn thing it is for a Christian so to act as to put a stumbling-block before those who are naturally blinded by prejudice against the doctrines of grace. Our blessed Lord pronounced against such a solemn woe—"Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence comes!" (Matt. 18:7.) The desire, therefore, of the Christian is to be "without offence," that is, without causing any justly to stumble at his words, ways, or work; but to live before God and man with that uprightness, tenderness, consistency, and general conduct befitting the gospel, that none shall take real cause of offence against the truth of God by seeing in him practice unworthy of his profession.
We shall not indeed be able to avoid giving offence in the usual sense of the word, for nothing is more offensive to the world than vital godliness; and the Lord warned us that we should be hated of all men for his name's sake. But the meaning of the word is not to give 'legitimate cause' of offence so as to stumble sinners or stumble saints, and bring a reproach upon our holy religion by words or works unbecoming our Christian profession; and that "until the day of Christ," when the thoughts of all hearts shall be revealed. When I am gone I hope that no one when he sees my tomb in the Cemetery may be able to kick his foot against my gravestone, and say, "Here lies a drunkard; here lies an Antinomian; here lies a covetous wretch; a bad husband, a bad father, and a treacherous friend; a pretended minister, who preached one thing and practiced another, and disgraced instead of adorning his profession of the Gospel."
IV. The last petition, on which I must be very brief, falls in well with the three preceding—"Being filled with the FRUITS of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God."
The apostle desired that they might be trees well loaded with Gospel fruit. You will bear in mind that it was a prayer for them; he does not say that they were thus abundantly fruitful; but it was his desire that they might be. As a gardener, when he walks in his garden in the autumn and looks at his trees, examines them chiefly with a view to their fruit; and if among them he sees one with scarcely any crop, says, with a sigh, "Ah, how few pears or plums there are this year upon this tree of mine!" But if he passes on to the next and see it well loaded, it gladdens his heart. So to go into the 'garden of the Church' and see on one tree only two or three berries upon the top of the uppermost bough; on another mildewed leaves or withered branches; and only a withered plum or a half-ripe pear here and there—this is not a pleasant sight to the spiritual gardener. But to see the trees of the Lord's own planting "filled with the fruits of righteousness," and every grace and fruit of the Spirit brought forth into a blessed exercise—this is a sight indeed to cheer and comfort his heart.
This is the sight the apostle longed to have his eyes gladdened with, that when he came again to Philippi to visit the church planted there by his instrumentality, he might see all the members with the elders and deacons filled with the fruits of righteousness—internal, such as love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, meekness, and every external fruit of the Spirit adorning their life and conversation. He would gladly see their leaf fresh and verdant, their stem healthy and strong, their branches free from blight or mildew, and a blessed crop loading every bough. And all this he knew would be "by Jesus Christ," by his presence and power, his Spirit and grace, and all would redound "unto the glory and praise of God;" as the Lord himself said, "Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples." (John 15:8.) Now can we find anything in our soul corresponding with the desires thus beautifully expressed for the Philippian Church by the pen of the man of God?
But bear in mind that the Philippians were not necessarily all the apostle prayed they might be. Grace, indeed, could make them so; and as far as they were under its power and influence, their desires for themselves would be the same as those here expressed for them. But can you join heart and hand with these earnest petitions, and first, from the bottom of your heart, desire your love to abound more and more in divine knowledge and gracious experience? This will form a solid foundation for the other petitions, and for an earnest request to the Lord of all grace that he would drop every one of these rich blessings into your soul. Then you certainly have already the fulfillment of the second petition, if not of all the rest; for you "approve things that are excellent." If you seem to fall short, and we all fall short of being "filled with the fruits of righteousness," yet so far as we are Christians at all, there is a being "sincere," and a desire to give no just cause of offence to friend or foe. At any rate, we feel that there is no willful turning away the ear, nor hardening the heart, nor stifling the conscience against the power of the word.
These things may encourage us still to present our petitions before the throne, ever bearing in mind that the Lord is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, and by granting our desires and manifesting himself to our souls, can even in this present world, fill us with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
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